Schools of Thought Essay
The ideas of psychology are changing everyday. The study of the human mind and how it operates is actually a relatively new idea. There are many different area of psychology, a general grouping are the “schools of thought”. Most psychologists specialize in a particular area or particular school of thought. Each school of thought has its own area in psychology that is focused on. When all these ideas are brought together we begin to understand more and more the world of psychology as a whole.
The first area of psychology to be developed is structuralism. Structuralism was developed by Wilhelm Wundt when he was able to break down the contents of the mind into basic units like the basic elements of matter in chemistry. Which is where the name structuralism came from. Structuralism focuses on the conscious part of the human mind. As time progressed structuralism was replaced by other approaches, and the conscious experience was not even considered a legitimate subject of psychology.
The new study that structuralism became is known as cognitive psychology. Cognative psychologists are not interested in the structure of the conscious; instead, they study higher mental processes. Thinking, knowing, and deciding have become some of the areas that cognative psychologists study. Cognative study is just one example of psychology developing into something more advanced.
Gestalt psychology is another school of thought based on the human thought process as a whole and not on an individual. I find this area to be more useful in psychology, especially when trying to study thoughts and behaviors of humanity. How can we look at a single person’s psychi and make general statements concerning all people? Perception is one of the most important tools used in Gestalt psychology. This might seem to acheive general answers, but actually just perception alone one can draw some of the most important conclusions.
These are just a few of the areas in the schools of thought. Every day the names, ideas, and tools used in each school are growing and changing. As with the rest of the world, as time goes on psychology will change and we will learn more. Whether studying the structures of thought or thought in general as a whole we will always learn more and there will always be more to learn.
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